1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector that is for example attached to a portable device or the like, and particularly to a card connector of a manual insertion type that is equipped with an ejection mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an integrated circuit card (also simply referred to as IC card or card, hereinafter) is increasingly used in an electronic device such as a personal computer, digital camera, recorder, cellular phone, portable audio device, or PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) and other various kinds of information terminal device. There are the following cards: a PC card, in which an IC component called IC chip that is used for storing, transmitting or processing information is embedded; a MMC (Multi Media Card) card; a SD (Secure Digital) card; a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card; or the like. There also may be a kind of card that functions as a hard disk such as a flash memory-type recording medium, for example.
Such a card is usually connected to a card connecter (also simply referred to as a connector, hereinafter) for use, which is mounted on a printed circuit board or the like of the device. As portable devices become more sophisticated, or gain more functions, and become smaller in size, it is increasingly required for connectors, particularly those to which small cards such as SIM cards or Micro SD cards are connected, to become smaller in size and have lower backs (or become thinner).
As the small-size cards and the connectors have become smaller in size and thinner in recent years, it becomes more difficult to eject the card connected to the connector, for example, at a time when the card or the like is replaced. Accordingly, a push-type connector is disclosed so that a card can be easily ejected from the connector (Referred to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-87480, for example). A manual insertion connector is also proposed: The manual insertion connector includes a coil spring, with a simplified ejection mechanism for ejecting a card (Referred to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-277194, for example).
However, the push-type connector requires a lock mechanism to keep the connected card from springing out from the connector. Therefore, the structure of the connector is complex and the components thereof increase in number, affecting production costs. The card ejection mechanism disclosed in Patent Document 2 is so formed that a manual-insertion pull portion of an ejection lever for inserting and withdrawing the card is inserted into a compression coil spring. Or alternatively, the card ejection mechanism is so formed that a slit is formed by making a hole in a central axis area of the ejection lever, and the compression coil spring is placed in the slit. In this case, there is a limit to making the ejection mechanism, as well as the connector having the ejection mechanism, smaller in size and thinner.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. The object of the present invention is to simplify the structure of an ejection mechanism that is able to eject an IC card from a card accommodating space and reduce the number of components thereof, as well as to lower costs of a card connector having the ejection mechanism and eliminate the limit to make the card connector smaller and thinner.